captive bred and wild caught tortoise

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CrisT

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I am thinking of buying a captive bred Russian tortoise but i already have a wild caught Russian tortoise is there a problem with that? My enclosure is big enough.
 

Jacqui

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There may be no problems or there may be big ones, just no way to tell. Mixing them because one is captive and the wild caught, is not a big deal. It's more the behavior issues. Will they both be the same sex? Two females tend to usually get along together the best and then two males. When you mix a male and a female, often the male can turn into a sex maniac and stress the female, or atleast during the main breeding season. However, this does not always happen. Another issue is size differences. For it to work best, they do need to be fairly equal in size. A larger environment with more visual blockers, does help to keep these problems to a minimum. However, as always whenever you have more then one tortoise to an enclosure, you always need to be ready to separate, if problems happen.
 

nicoleandrocky

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If the enclosure is big enough where one can escape from the other (so not to be be bothered) it should be fine. But before getting a new tort see how it's personality is and if you think it would go well with your current.
 

CrisT

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Jacqui said:
There may be no problems or there may be big ones, just no way to tell. Mixing them because one is captive and the wild caught, is not a big deal. It's more the behavior issues. Will they both be the same sex? Two females tend to usually get along together the best and then two males. When you mix a male and a female, often the male can turn into a sex maniac and stress the female, or atleast during the main breeding season. However, this does not always happen. Another issue is size differences. For it to work best, they do need to be fairly equal in size. A larger environment with more visual blockers, does help to keep these problems to a minimum. However, as always whenever you have more then one tortoise to an enclosure, you always need to be ready to separate, if problems happen.

well I have wild caught male 5-6 inch he has normal behavior.So i'm thinking of getting a female captive bred not sure if is a good idea though?
 

StudentoftheReptile

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I would certainly quarantine any new tortoise, especially if it was WC, if only for the possibility of pathogen transference.
 

CrisT

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StudentoftheReptile said:
I would certainly quarantine any new tortoise, especially if it was WC, if only for the possibility of pathogen transference.

So can pathogen be transfer to another?
 

Jacqui

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CrisT said:
well I have wild caught male 5-6 inch he has normal behavior.So i'm thinking of getting a female captive bred not sure if is a good idea though?

Any way you can get two females? As was mentioned, any time you get a new animal, it is wise to quarantine them for awhile.
 

CrisT

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Jacqui said:
CrisT said:
well I have wild caught male 5-6 inch he has normal behavior.So i'm thinking of getting a female captive bred not sure if is a good idea though?

Any way you can get two females? As was mentioned, any time you get a new animal, it is wise to quarantine them for awhile.

Alright then thank you all for the advice.
 

ascott

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Temperament testing a tortoise by a human will not give you insight in their behavior when they are parallel to another tortoise...that gentile loving funny tortoise we make them out to be can suddenly turn into a tortoise..running..ramming...biting...gladiator style....

So as Jacqui mentioned, if you are going to try great...but be prepared with separate equal enclosure in the event the situation goes wrong...
 

JoesMum

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Russians are naturally solitary in the wild and often don't share nicely regardless of gender and space availability.

Apart from the natural quarantine period when they must be kept apart to ensure that there is no illness, you must then consider that that your existing tort may well not take kindly to a new kid on the block. The enclosure has been his/hers alone for some time.

Be prepared to keep them separately for ever.
 

Kerryann

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When I put a tortoise statue in my Russians tank she did this weird chicken neck thing a few times and then ran over and bit it.. is that a sign that she is aggressive? I am not planning to get another Russian to live with her but it worries me if I ever did an outdoor enclosure for multiple Russians. Is there any way to tell if they are WC or CB?


I also forgot to mention that she peed in her food bowl that day. I was kind of shocked by her doing that.
 

Jacqui

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Kerryann said:
When I put a tortoise statue in my Russians tank she did this weird chicken neck thing a few times and then ran over and bit it.. is that a sign that she is aggressive? I am not planning to get another Russian to live with her but it worries me if I ever did an outdoor enclosure for multiple Russians. Is there any way to tell if they are WC or CB?


I also forgot to mention that she peed in her food bowl that day. I was kind of shocked by her doing that.



It could be aggression, could more likely be more showing dominance (which is pretty natural), and this food is mine go find you own kinda thing. It could even be her way of making sure just what that new thing was. When a new tortoise is placed in with another one, there is often a period of time with adjustment and getting to know each other. Captives tend to have the nicer shells with less old damage on them. Many times they are lighter in color due to how they have been housed. It's not often you see a captive adult for sale.
 

StudentoftheReptile

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CrisT said:
StudentoftheReptile said:
I would certainly quarantine any new tortoise, especially if it was WC, if only for the possibility of pathogen transference.

So can pathogen be transfer to another?

Yes. And ditto on what everyone else has said. Tortoises act differently toward other tortoises than they do toward people. Honestly, this goes for any animal.
 

JoesMum

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Kerryann said:
When I put a tortoise statue in my Russians tank she did this weird chicken neck thing a few times and then ran over and bit it.. is that a sign that she is aggressive? I am not planning to get another Russian to live with her but it worries me if I ever did an outdoor enclosure for multiple Russians. Is there any way to tell if they are WC or CB?
Probably a territorial thing... it's normal. Joe would probably forget the niceties and just mate with it.

Kerryann said:
I also forgot to mention that she peed in her food bowl that day. I was kind of shocked by her doing that.
That's normal too! :)
 

Tom

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Along with quarantine you will need to do at least a couple of fecal exams on both too. Keeping tortoises in pairs is not usually the best way to go with any species, but especially not with russians. If you desire to have more than one, it is best to have one male and several females in a very large enclosure. Or just have separate enclosures and put them together once in a while for breeding. But watch closely. They can tear each other up very quickly...
 

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StudentoftheReptile said:
I would certainly quarantine any new tortoise, especially if it was WC, if only for the possibility of pathogen transference.

:)
 
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